It may be a cliché but there is an undeniable romance to driving along a California highway, windows down and stereo blasting, the rolling mountains on one side and the Pacific on the other. Growing up in the 1970s in Newcastle—a rural California town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains—Jason Rhoades developed a lifelong passion for car culture, which he often represented in his ambitious and freewheeling installations. Rhoades, who died of heart failure in 2006, at 41, believed the car itself was sculptural art. A new exhibition showcasing his sculptures, drawings, and photographs kicks off with The Parking Space, an installation featuring four actual cars parked in the gallery—a Chevrolet Caprice and Impala, a Ferrari 328 GTS, and a Ligier microcar. They are accompanied by a 1998 video in which Rhoades discusses the rich relationship between art and cars. —Paulina Prosnitz